Seasons
by Jezzi
Summary: Short vignettes of the seasons of Rikku and Gippal's friendship. HumorFriendshipRomance.
1. Autumn

_**Autumn**_

* * *

She glances to her side as she lifts her hand up to catch one of the orange streaks of color falling from the branch above. "I've never watched the leaves fall before."

He looks into the fading sun, swinging his leg as he lies back on the wide branch, his arms behind his head. "I did, once."

"I should have." She catches the leaf, spinning the stem in her hand. "I was in the right places, I just never had the time to sit and watch."

"Neither did I. But I did it anyway." He grins, shielding his face from the bright light of the sun.

"It's weird to watch things change color." She lets the leaf fall from her hand to continue its descent to the forest floor.

"Yeah. Most places, nothing ever changes."

"They do. But you just can't see them." She looks at him, basking in the sun. She's glad the breeze is warm, still.

"I never have time to look." He reaches one arm out, catching the leave that she let fall.

"You should do it anyway." She grins, watching him as he twirls the leaf in his fingers. "Just like you are right now."

"It's not everyday you pop in to see me, you know."

She smiles and leans back, steadying herself in the tree. "Maybe I'll pop in more often. Force you to have time."

"Maybe. Maybe I won't let you."

"Sure you won't." She wraps her scarf tighter around her neck.

He lets the leaf go and pushes himself up, looking at her. "Why did you pop in to see me, by the way?"

"I was in the area." She smiles down at him and shrugs. "Thought I'd come to annoy you."

"You don't annoy me." He climbs down the tree, dropping from the last branch to the ground without much effort. "Only when you're with the other two. Then the giggling gets to me a little."

She laughs as she lithely drops onto the branch that he was occupying previously. "I don't know. I think I annoy you more than you say."

"Nope."

"Sure." She climbs down, dropping from the trunk with a smile. She trips as she hits one of the roots that stick out from the ground, and falls back on her rear.

"Way to go!" he laughs, taking a few steps closer.

She wrinkles her nose, sitting up from the ground, leaves in her hair and dirt on her pants. "Owie…"

He offers a hand to her, still chuckling. "You alright?"

"Yeah. My butt might turn colors tomorrow, though." She takes his hand and he pulls her to her feet. They both grin at each other.

"Like the leaves?"

"Yep. Just like the leaves."

"Maybe I'll make some time to watch the colors change, this time," he says, winking at her as he pulls leaves out of her braids.

She brushes the dirt from her pants and sticks her tongue out at him. "No way!" She laughs as he pouts.

"And if you stop by more I'll even watch everything go back to normal."

"On my butt."

"…yep."

"You'll make time to watch the colors change on my butt."

"Yep."

"…nope." She laughs and begins to skip away down the path. "C'mon… let's get back before I trip on my own two feet again."

He follows her with a laugh, shaking his head. "You do have to make more time to stop in and see me, Cid's girl. You're always good for a laugh."

"I don't have more time!" She turns to wait for him, and they walk slowly together down the path, back to the temple and the waiting airship.

"You should do it anyway!" He says, pushing her arm playfully.

She shrugs and giggles, pulling her scarf tighter around her neck again. "Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"You know I will."

He smiles and picks a leaf from the ground, spinning it in his fingers again. "Yeah. You will."

* * *


	2. Winter

_**Winter**_

* * *

She taps her pen against the counter, her teeth chattering a little as she thinks about what to write. 

He walks into the room with a blanket over his arm, shaking his head as he watches her tremble. She's stubborn, making herself sit here until she finishes the letter to Yuna. Which he thinks is an admirable testament to her attention span… but also kind of stupid, since it's cold and all. He quietly walks behind her and drapes the blanket over her shoulders, laughing as she jumps and makes a scribble all over the paper.

She narrows her eyes at him, but she wraps the blanket tighter around her all the same. "I never knew that it snowed here. I should have brought my Macalania clothes. Or my Gagazet clothes."

He raises an eyebrow, leaning casually against the counter. "You've got different dressing styles for different places in Spira?"

"Only if they are frozen places. Besides… I've decided that running around in next-to-nothing isn't really necessary unless I'm in the desert. Because this whole shivering thing I've got going on happens." The blanket comes up to her cheeks, hiding her mouth from view.

"Hm… well, I like the non-frozen place clothing well enough." He raises an eyebrow, his lips twitching a bit.

"That's 'cause it's barely there," she says back, smirking.

"Who says I like it because of that? Maybe I like it because it's fashionable. Or it goes well with your skin tone." He smirks back, leaning toward her.

"Of course it goes well with my skin tone. My skin tone is the most prominent part of the outfit." She winks, gathering the blankets around her as the corner of her eyes crinkle happily, and he knows she's smiling.

"That's… well, that's very true." He leans over the counter for a moment, glancing at her letter. "So… decide how long you're stayin' yet? You haven't been popping in like you said you would. I think I should get at least a few days." He returns her wink, grinning as he relaxes against the counter.

"You never pop in on me for 'a few days', mister, I'm lucky if I get an afternoon!"

He shrugs. "That's 'cause I'm a big bad executive guy. I'm busy, Cid's girl. But I come see you whenever I can, even if it's only an afternoon. I'm makin' more time, remember?"

She groans, looking down at the paper. "Yeah, yeah, yeah… well I'm busy, too, ya know."

"Yeah, I know." He grins, shivering a little even though he's trying to look macho, like the cold doesn't affect him. "You've got your business, and I've got mine… but we're doing okay with the popping in, I think."

She nods, picking up her pen again as she scrawls a few more sentences onto the paper. "I'll stay for at least a few days. I can send the plans out, if I need to… I should do that anyway, really, delivery isn't part of the whole designing thing, right? They can get their blueprints when they get their blueprints." She points her pen at him accusingly. "But I'll only stay if you'll build a snow person with me. And make snow-angels."

He looks at her confusedly. "Snow person?"

"I've never made one before. So if you want me to stay, then you have to bribe me with promises of snow people." She smiles smugly, signing her name on the letter to Yuna before tossing the pen aside and beginning to fold it.

He grins, shaking a bit as a chill runs down his back. "Okay… snow people. We will make snow people. A bunch of them. And snow-angels, too. And maybe we'll even have a snowball fight. Sound good?"

"Sounds great!" she says cheerfully, stuffing the letter into an envelope, licking the seal. She glances up at him as she retrieves the pen and writes the destination on the envelope. "You're cold too!" she says in a cheery, sing-song voice.

"No, I'm not. Just a little chill, no big deal." He crosses his arms, standing his ground.

"Come here," she says, hopping off the stool. Smirking behind her thick blanket.

"Why?" he asks suspiciously.

"Just do it," she says back, winking.

He shakes his head, plucking the letter from her hand and tossing it into a mail bin. "I don't trust you."

"_Gippal_," she whines, stepping toward him a little.

"What?" he asks, taking a little step forward, too. She grins immediately and jumps toward him, opening up the blanket to wrap it around him. He grins when he realizes she's too short to tuck it around his shoulders by herself. "Is that all?"

"Yep!" she says, grinning and leaning her head onto his shoulder as she hugs him.

He grins back, hugging her tightly before pulling away. "Thanks for stoppin' in, Rikku." With a sigh, he pulls back. "We should go back inside…"

She nods. "Yeah… I'm glad Rin's other Travel Agency's are warm, this old one's like an icecube."

"Yeah… that's my fault," he says, rubbing the back of his head with a little shrug.

She shrugs back, smiling. With a peek into the heavy snowfall out the doorway, she winks at him. "Wanna give me a piggy-back ride? I'll shield you with the blanket."

He laughs and nods, standing steadily as she hops on his back excitedly. He holds onto her arms as they circle around his chest, laughing as she wraps them both up in the warm blanket. "Where too?" he asks teasingly, walking out the doorway and shutting the entry to the old Travel Agency with his foot.

"Onward!" she says, pointing toward the temple doors as she giggles.

He takes careful steps across the icy courtyard, letting her down on the concrete in front of the doors. He steps forward to wrench the doors open, propping the heavy door open for her like a gentleman. But she doesn't walk through it, and he looks confusedly behind him. His expression softens when he sees her, standing where he set her down, sticking her tongue out to catch a snowflake.

"Never tasted snowflakes while you were in Gagazet?" he asks, walking back toward her slowly.

"Naw, they'd make fun of me if I did." She grins and sticks her tongue out again, catching one more. "They're fluffy."

He laughs and sticks his own tongue out to catch one. Thinking that he's glad she decided to pop in on him during a snowstorm, because everyone else would make fun of him if he did it, too.

* * *

_I hope everyone liked this little installment. Please review and let me know what you thought!_


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